Customer Reviews

Between Father and Son: Family Letters

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In 1950, 17-year old V. S. Naipaul left his home in Trinidad to study literature at Oxford. The letters collected here kept the Naipaul family connected from 1949 through 1957, and reveal the love, respect, and honest counsel "Vido" shared with his family during those years. They show that Naipaul's father Seepersad (1906-53), "Pa," was the family "guide" (p. 266) until his untimely death at age 47. For him, "the life of the mind--the writer's life--was everything" (p. vii), and he always reminded his son to "keep your centre" (pp. viii, 18, 31). He wrote to Naipaul: "Everywhere you will meet shallow-minded people; but it is precisely because they are shallow that they make a lot of 'to do'--we must learn to look at people objectively. Perception is rare and intelligence is by no means widespread. Those who have it to any unusual degree often suffer terribly: they are the most lonesome creatures in the world . . . Spot your drones and microbes among your fellow-creatures, but do not let them put you out of your centre" (p. 63). Naipaul's "Pa," we learn, also regularly coached him on writing: "When writing a good story it is a good thing to read good stories. Good reading and good writing go together" (p. 14).

Naipaul's father was always a source of intellectual encouragement, and these letters reveal a father and son always "in step" (p. vii). Naipaul recognized his father's influence upon him: "As I grow older, I find myself doing things that remind me of Pa, more and more. The way I smoke; the way I sit; the way I stroke my unshaved chin; the way in which I sometimes sit bolt upright; the way in which I spend money romantically and foolishly . . . The more I learn about myself, the more I learn about him . . . But who has shaped my life, my views, my tastes, Pa" (p. 126).

These letters not only follow Naipaul's intellectual growth at Oxford, but also reveal his periods of "black depression" (p. 235) and his nervous breakdown in 1952 and 1953. "I have found it difficult to live up to my own maxim," he advised his family prior to his collapse. "I say, 'We must ignore the pain-shrieks of the dying world,' yet I can't. There is so much suffering--so overwhelmingly much. That's a cordial feature in life--suffering. It is elemental as night. It also makes more keen the appreciation of happiness" (p. 9). He also reported to his family: "A feeling of emptiness is nearly always on me. I see myself struggling in a sort of tunnel blocked up at both ends" (p. 36). Later, he attributed his breakdown to "loneliness and lack of affection . . . some people, alas, feel more and think more than others, and they suffer" (p. 177).

The Naipaul letters also include correspondence from other family members, including the writer's free-thinking older sister, Kamla (1930- ). About the prospect of marriage, she wrote to her brother: "I have grown to hate the idea of marriage. I think it's the end of life" (p. 178). The letters are followed by an excellent Naipaul family bibliography and Editor, Gillon Aitken's index to the collection.

These are first-class letters. In an age when email is unfortunately replacing the personal letter, which has been reduced to "snail mail," the Naipaul family correspondence is a rare treasure full of genius I urge you to experience.

G. Merritt

The book offers insight into the life and thoughts of Naipaul and shows us a more personable side of the author, who seems to be on such a solo mission. Furthermore, we learn of his relationship to his father and the background of Naipaul's greatest character, Mohun Biswas. Naipaul's father was a true writer, a literature buff, unlike Biswas, who liked Marcus Aurelius and kept info in a Shakespeare that he may or may not have ever read. In letters, we don't see much of the temper or the actions of the character Biswas, but we see the meditations of the man who was his source. We also see VS Naipaul's transformation from West Indian student leaving the island for the first time, to a published author four years later. We read that "useless letter" that Naipaul describes in A House for Mr. Biswas, sent home following Biswas' death, and we learn all about the sympathy and respect that Naipaul had when writing this character. From this time on, he knew he would be a writer. He has longings and inklings towards India and Africa, he is already an anglophile with a strong rejection of coloured people, and an inclination to disassociate himself with these people, whom he finds ignorant and barbaric, a common criticism of his literature. There seems to show, in the uncommented upon letters, some of Naipaul's faults and prejudices and feelings of shortcomings, as a West Indian in England, as an outsider, always. But he never rejected his family, and was in fact a very sincere and loving brother and son. This is somewhat surprising considering the coldness that he sometimes can exude. His discussions of loneliness, of brotherhood and the need to take care of each other seem like preludes to stories from "In a Free State." Naipaul describes his life as an extention of his father's, fulfilled. And his father was already talking about writing an autobiography in the third person. Naipaul may have fulfilled this in Biswas, a fictional account. There is a hopefulness in Naipaul's letters that may not be as apparent in some of his later works, there is also the dark depression and dim view of the world and its inhabitants that is seen. His social attitudes and the way he writes about them shed more insight into his characters' social interactions as well. "The women I have known I have met quite by chance. Acquaintanceship is struck up almost unconsciously." This is similar to relationships that develop in Bend in the River and other books. Mostly, this is the development of the ideas of writing, the motivations, financial (primarily), emotionally. Both Naipauls saw writing as a profession, not a spiritual letting out of feelings or something, they approached writing professionally and with dignity, even in their letters, which they do critique. This book is a primary source of insight into the life and mind of one of the greatest writers of our time. I recommend it to any Naipaul enthusiast. Naipaul's literary career seems to have been well-plotted and worked out before it even began.

V.S. Naipaul's Between Father And Son gathers family letters, revealing family interactions and a powerful drama with insights into Naipaul's formative years. Fans of Naipaul's writings will find this essential to understanding his works.

This is a good book if you want to see what makes someone who is hell-bent to become a good writer, to actually succeed and achieve his dream. I think Naipaul's father was a brilliant man, who nurtured, supported and provided much needed confidence to a man who would eventually become a nobel prize winning author.

The time span of the book covers early young life of Naipaul, in the early 20s and you see many immature statements made in the book. The problem with Naipaul is that he was produced in a society where bars were set by the white men. You see in the book how Naipaul is always trying to do things in a way that will help him compete in the world he inherited. I do not blame him for that.

For example when Naipaul quotes and agrees with Huxley - "He said that it was half-diets that produced ascetics and people who spend all their time in meditation". That is such a simplistic materialistic western view point and completely invalidated by such a obvious example as Gautham Buddha, who quit his kingdom to explore the nature of human existence.

The genius of Naipaul is in his ability to come out of his cultural conditioning and try to see the world as objectively as possible. His observations on the British people are very interesting. This book gives you a glimpse on how a father, son duo overcame the insurmountable barriers to success to achieve their dreams.

On the other hand the weakness of Naipaul is in his inability to come out of what I would call for a lack of better words - white ass kissing attitude. All that glitters is not gold may be a cliche, but it is an apt commentary on the western world.

I'm still enjoying Naipaul's Between Father and Son: Family Letters. It is a delicious book that allows you into the intimate discourse between a father, son, and their family. As a father and student myself, it's beautiful to see how Naipaul's father fosters and encourages, and pushes Vido to develop into the writer he would eventually become; similarly, you watch V.S. Naipual shape and grow into the writer par excellence he is today. It is a meditation, calls for reflection, and inspires a person to look at the relationship he/she has with their own children.

This collection doesn't consist solely of letters between father and son. In fact, the final dozen or so missives date from after dad's death, and there are others which are neither written by nor addressed to V.S. But V.S. -- and his relationship with his father -- is definitely the focal point of the collection.
Three far flung correspondents dominate the book. There is Seepersad, V.S.'s father, back in Trinidad, raising the large family and struggling to be a writer. There is Vidia, gone to England to study at Oxford. And there is Vido's sister Kamla, studying at Benares Hindu University in India for most of the period covered in the book.
The letters are often unremarkable. There is lots of wondering why more letters aren't being written and lots of excuses (especially by V.S.) why more can't be sent. There is lots of discussion about money, and promises to send small but vital amounts back and forth. There are requests for things to be sent -- V.S. wants cigarettes (remaining stunningly ignorant for quite a while of the obvious fact that the duty that has to be paid on imported cigarettes will pretty much equal the high tax he would pay if he bought the cigarettes in England), while dad asks for books, newspapers, and other odds and ends. Care packages of sugar and other Trinidadian necessities also are sent to England.
There is also much to do about the writerly ambitions of the two Naipaul men. Both write a lot, and manage to publish here and there -- and even get their stories broadcast on the BBC. V.S. also works for some Oxford publications (Isis among them), while dad works for a Trinidadian newspaper, and each shares some of their experiences in these positions.
V.S. describes some of his academic efforts and successes, trips he takes, girls he is (generally very briefly) entangled with -- but it is almost all very cursory, slim pickings from over the years. Those unfamiliar with Naipaul's biography might have a hard time with many of the details, and extensive annotations would certainly have been useful. V.S.'s future first wife, Patricia, is occasionally mentioned, but the whole nature of their relationship remains largely unclear. Other figures also pass in and out of the correspondence, but beyond the family relationships there isn't much explanation of who these people are and their roles in V.S.'s (or his father's, or sister's) life.
There are some footnotes, usefully identifying the figures that crop up (though practically never in much detail) and clarifying certain references. But the editorial involvement (or rather lack thereof) in elucidating the texts is best exemplified by the frivolous note (apropos of Naipaul's cricket successes): "No attempt will be made to explain the mysteries of cricket." Unfortunately, no attempt is made to explain most of the other mysteries in the letters either. Gillon Aitken's editorial policy of "non-intrusion, permitting the sequence of letters to tell its own story", while a laudable notion, seems taken to too far an extreme.
The book is fairly poor as a stand-in for biography (or autobiography), even of just V.S.'s Oxford years -- there is just too little information, and there are too many gaps. Among the few biographical notes of interest are his job applications. He apparently seriously considered working for, among others, the Western India Match Company and the Cement and Concrete Association.
The one thing that this letter-collection does do well is demonstrate the importance of the influence of the father on the son's ambitions as a writer. Seepersad was always supportive, and though relatively unsuccessful as an author himself, he also set an example for his son.

This book of correspondence between VS Naipaul who is a student in Oxford and his family who is in Trinidad and India is a fantastic insight into the mind of a genius in his early years. Unedited, these letters also afford a glimpse into the difficult life that Naipaul and his family led during his years at Oxford. In midst of an uncertain future, the self confidence and arrogance of VS Naipaul (18 years of age) stands in contrast to the humility and frustration of his father- both great writers in their own ways. It also helps us to understand the complexity of VS Naipaul's personality esp. as it relates to the embarrassing and difficult relationship between him and Paul Theroux. A fascinating book- a must read for every person who enjoys biographical literature....

Reader's of Naipaul's works, especially his travel books, are intrigued by a variety of things: his genius for observing people and places, his rational perspectives, his dispassionate comments etc. At the same time, one wonders when did this real Naipaul evolve? This book, which is a compilation of his correspondences with his late father and elder sister, convinces one that Naipaul was always like this from a very young age: a gifted man. The elder Naipaul, despite his many troubles as a homemaker, deserves credit for instilling an intellectual atmosphere in his household; which obviously Vidia has run away with.